Entrepreneurs are often seen as tech rockstars due to their grandiose keynotes and lavish lifestyles. But just like their frontmen counterparts, entrepreneurs often overshadow the true geniuses who are crafting the product.
If a gifted drummer or bassist is the backbone to a song’s success, it takes a knowledgeable listener to recognize their contribution. And the same can be said for the unsung engineers who craft a brilliant piece of software.
For every Jobs there’s a Wozniak and for every Daltrey there’s a Townshend.
But unlike these unheralded band members, your dev team needs to grow as your company finds success. So how do you find that perfect balance between staying lean and hiring who you need to take the company to the next level?
We spoke with established Colorado tech companies to find out how they transitioned from a lone engineer to a small dev team while keeping everyone on the same page:
A look inside Inspirato's Denver office.
What were you looking for in new hires during the company early days compared to what you are looking now?
"The type of people we like to hire has not drastically changed," said Sebastian Gnagnarella at SVP Technology at Inspirato. "We recruit for folks that want to built great software, be creative, have fun, take pride in what they are building and that want to make a difference. I have to admit that now we emphasize a lot more in “team work” and the ability to follow processes."
"We wanted people with the sense that they can run a business within a business," recalled Adam Wilson, Chief Scientist and co-founder at Sphero. "Creativity and entrepreneurial spirit are highly sought after talents that we were, and still are, looking for."
A look at Sphero's team in February 2016.
How did you craft a lineup of developers to meet all of your needs?
"Developers actually flocked to us. When you make something this crazy, the more talented and crazy people want to come work on it," stated Wilson.
"This hasn’t been easy, but we have been extremely lucky with the way we put our team together – blessed I’d say," Gnagnarella explained. "For me Culture (yes with capital C) is the corner stone of every team. We first recruits for attitude and culture fit and then we emphasize in certain skills. When I meet with recruiters I literally tell them 'I want someone who doubles as a software hacker during the week and a professional snowboarder during the weekends.' I am joking, but I am not, I run a world class Tech team that works hard and plays hard too."
Another struggle of scaling your dev team is knowing if your product is performing as well as it should. To learn more about harnessing software analytics, check out what New Relic has to offer.
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